TRANSISTOR MUSEUM Historic Transistor Photo Gallery
Transistor Size (5/16”L X 1/8”W X 5/16”H) Date Code 802 on top (1958) Date Code 308 on top (1963)	TEXAS INSTRUMENTS 2N117 SERIES TYPE Silicon NPN Grown Junction Low Frequency Amplifier USAGE Military DATE INTRODUCED 1956 CASE STYLES Silver/Black Metal AVAILABILITY Common (High Volume Production)
HISTORIC NOTES Texas Instruments was the first company to offer silicon transistors commercially, announcing the 900 – 905 series of grown junction units in 1954. This was several years before other companies were able to produce silicon units, and this early introduction allowed Texas Instruments to gain a large share of the highly profitable military transistor market – silicon units performed reliably at much higher temperatures than germanium units and were in great demand by the US military. Within a couple of years, TI was using standard “2N” numbers to identify their silicon, small signal transistor product line, with 2N117 thru 2N120 reserved for this purpose; all these units came off the same production line, and were tested, sorted and labeled depending on beta. The 2N117 had the lowest beta (9 – 20) while the 2N120 had the highest (76 – 333). These units were available in “Mil Standard/Qualified” versions (see the USN logo above). Prices were high initially and remained high thru the mid 1960s – the 1960 Lafayette Radio catalog shows a price range of $10 to $20 each. Transitron was a major second-source supplier for these transistors.
Copyright © 2003 by Jack Ward http://www.transistormuseum.com